


The Stilinski Effect

by withoutwords



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bisexuality, Humour, M/M, Mild Angst, Pre-Slash, Self-Discovery, post 3b
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 10:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1685333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withoutwords/pseuds/withoutwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles said, “You should stop dating women,” and messed up his inflections.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stilinski Effect

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that Stiles has some questionable ideas about sexuality in this story. He’s just confused and, despite what Jeff Davis would lead you to believe – bless him – the world isn’t so black and white.
> 
> Also, I hate writing in past tense so I’m not sure how this happened.

Stiles said, “You should stop dating _women_ ,” and messed up his inflections. He thought the tilt of Derek’s head meant he was thinking of all the ways he could kill Stiles in his sleep, except. A few months later Stiles found Derek on the sofa with his legs in some guys lap watching _Mythbusters_.

“Stiles, James. James, Stiles.”

The dude had blonde shaggy hair and saluted Stiles with a “Yo,” his other hand making patterns on Derek’s calf. 

Stiles barely stayed long enough to say hi.

*

“Do you think Derek would roll around in wolfsbane if I told him to?”

Scott considered Stiles over the top of his text book. “Is that a dog joke?”

“That was a ‘Derek’s into dick now’ joke.”

“Oh.” Scott put his book down. The word of the day was discombobulated and Scott had it _nailed_. “Well, first he got Paige killed, and then Kate killed his family, and Jennifer wasn’t his fault at all but he did sleep with her and she was this ugly monster who sacrificed people for fun so …”

“So?”

“So it was a _good suggestion_! I mean, men and women are equally insane but three for three? What’s that thing you say about patterns?”

Stiles just blinked at him, mouth falling open.

*

The next guy Derek dated was from New Zealand, with light brown skin and big features. Scott would curl his nose every time Luka entered a room and Stiles was worried for their safety right up until Scott admitted,

“It’s like Derek exploded in a pool and Luka swam in it.”

Stiles felt sick. “Werewolves are disgusting.”

*

Once the third guy rolled through, Stiles started to take umbrage.

“I messed up the inflection!” he protested when Derek’s latest boyfriend, Mark, had left. He felt it was only fair that Derek know the truth. “I meant to say you should stop dating _altogether_. Not just switch teams.”

Derek was stirring something on the stove that smelt amazing and he had two bowls out and Stiles was all over that. “Switch teams? That’s a really insular thing for someone like you to say, Stiles.”

“What am I?” Stiles said, taking the bait. “Other than ridiculously handsome, intelligent, witty - ”

“Aren’t you bi?”

“Uh …”

Derek shrugged and pushed the bowl at him.

*

“Danny … Danny. Psst, Danny.”

Finstock threw a piece of chalk at Stiles’ head to quiet him. The legs of Stiles chair scraped across the floor as he inched a little closer, hopeful that after all these years Finstock would just give up on him. “Danny.”

“ _What_?” You could read Danny’s mood by the depth of his dimples and Stiles could see Danny was _pissed_. 

“I was just curious …”

Danny snorted. “Wow. There’s a surprise.”

“Dude, really. I have a serious question.”

“I know your sort of serious.”

“Let’s say,” Stiles started, ignoring the way Danny rolled his eyes. “You’re a gay man. You date guys. Every one of them starts dying or killing or being terribly horrifying in general. What do you do?”

“I start sleeping with women, obviously.”

“ _Really_?” Stiles squeaked and this time Finstock threw the whole box of chalk at his head. Danny passed him a note.

_Maybe Derek was never a straight man. Loser._

*

After Derek’s fourth boyfriend left cordially – no rotting flesh, no penchant for murder – Stiles Googled ‘can you be allergic to the opposite sex?’. The results were no more or less terrifying than the time he Googled ‘can I be sacrificed as a virgin if I had sex over the phone?’ [the best $5.99 per minute Stiles ever spent].

“You are the dumbest smart person I have ever met,” Lydia said when he asked her opinion and Stiles felt a little abashed.

“Yeah. Well, Will Smith called and he wants his dialogue back.”

“Unless you want him to sleep with you, why do you care what lands on Derek’s - ”

“I don’t,” Stiles had cut in, and he was glad she was not a werewolf and couldn’t hear his heartbeat. “But I seem to be the only person who thinks it’s weird he gets with three women in his whole life and it’s like epic proportions of tragedy and now he’s been with four dudes in six months and everything’s peachy.”

“Nothing was _peachy_ , Stiles. James was high all the time; Luka was too clingy; Mark slept with like half his class at college and Brandon kept forgetting Derek’s _name_.” Lydia had taken to filing her nails she was so bored with him. “Just because it’s not catastrophic doesn’t mean it’s _peachy_.”

*

Derek was cooking again. Stiles had eaten a burrito on his way over but he was suddenly hungry, until halfway through getting a plate out Derek gave him a look. It wasn’t the infamous _I should smash your head into something_ look, but definitely wasn’t a _thanks for saving my life just in the nick of time again_ look either. 

“What?”

“I told you all to come over whenever you wanted, and I meant it.”

“Excellent, so glad we got that cleared up, do you happen to have a serving spoon in my general vicinity because that smells awesome and needs to be in my mouth about five minutes ag- ”

“I have someone coming over.”

Stiles coughed. “Someone who isn’t me, you mean?”

“Yes. That’s what I mean.”

Stiles put the plate back in the cupboard. “Oh. Okay. Sorry. I’ll just get out of your hair before … _he_ gets here.”

Derek just kept giving him that look.

“So, it’s a guy then.”

“Yes, Stiles,” Derek said in a way that sounded eerily like his father. “It’s a guy. Why are you being weird about this?”

“I’m not!” At Derek’s look Stiles furthered his protest. “Dude! I’m not. I just want you to know you don’t have to date men exclusively, at least you don’t have to feel like you do just because your past relationships with women have been so … I mean when I said that to you I could have accidentally cursed you or something and I don’t want - ”

“You think being gay is a curse?”

“No! No, of course I don’t, I just think it’s strange that you have always dated women and then I was like, hey don’t date women, and now you don’t and it’s just …” Stiles was out of breath and out of ideas and Derek was looking at him as if he knew something Stiles didn’t. “I’m just going to go.”

*

Stiles invited everyone over while his dad worked the nightshift [everyone except Derek, who was out on a date. Surprise!]. Scott and Kira found a private, quiet space while Lydia and Danny were hunkered down in a conversation that was probably too expensive for Stiles anyway.

“What happened to your face?” Malia asked, flopping next to Stiles on the sofa. He pawed at it, looking for rogue pizza sauce. 

“What?”

“You look like you just drank off milk. I think. Scott’s still helping me with my social cues.”

Stiles couldn’t help but smile. Somehow an embittered, angry loner had become an inquisitive, innocent puppy. A puppy who would tear his eyes out if she heard him call her that. “You know how we hooked up?” Stiles said, and she had that look like he’d hit her with a wet fish.

“Sure. Was I supposed to fill out a satisfaction survey or something?”

“Ha. No. It’s just. I really, really liked it. I liked it a lot. In fact every encounter I’ve had with women has been all kinds of enjoyable.”

“That’s … great Stiles. What are you getting at?”

“I just don’t get why it’s not _enough_ ,” Stiles said, and he’d all but torn his hair out on the last word, rubbing his hands over and over his scalp. “Derek started dating men like, whatever, it’s just another option but I don’t … why can’t liking women just be _enough_?”

“Oh. _Oh_.” Malia nodded at him. The same way she nodded when Stiles’ explained his motives behind the circumcision essay. Great. “Yeah. I see that about you.”

“What?”

“You’re very open to everything. Scott told me when he became a werewolf you were like his guru. Just totally accepting. I guess you don’t see people in relation to their gender, either?”

Except Stiles’ sexuality wasn’t medical, apparently.

*

When his dad got home Stiles was sitting at the kitchen table. The Sheriff had his hand on his gun for the ten seconds it took for Stiles to summon the courage to say,

“I’m not gay but I like guys,” and drop his head onto the table. The Sheriff wrapped a comforting hand around Stiles neck and said,

“You were possessed by a demon and tried to kill us all. I don’t see how this is a problem.”

Stiles laughed until his stomach hurt.

*

Derek was wearing sweatpants and a tattered Henley. He had no shoes on and the loft smelled like blueberry muffins. Stiles was tempted to ask if the editor for _Better Homes and Gardens Magazine_ was coming over but instead he said,

“Have you got a guy here?” because his mouth hated him. A lot.

“No.”

“Can I come in?”

“Yes.”

Stiles had considered making flashcards. Lydia had left some in his room the last time they worked on a project together but they had rainbow borders and Stiles didn’t want Derek to think he was being ironic. Even if irony was Stiles’ favourite thing.

“I’m sorry for being an asshole.”

“Which time?”

“Yeah, funny. Pot, meet kettle.” Stiles threw his hands up. “ _Last time_ , the time when I suggested that you would choose your romantic partners based on a fly away comment some erratic teenager who can’t figure out his own life said. It was dumb. I’m dumb. I just …”

Derek sat on the arm of the sofa, his arms crossed and his eyes trained on Stiles. He was listening, and he was caring, and Stiles wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse.

“I’d been burying my own thoughts about … men … and when you just up and got a boyfriend I guess it caught me off guard. And then I guess I got a bit jealous. Jealous that you would just take your life by the horns – pun not intended – and jealous that you … you were doing it with someone else. I guess.”

“Someone other than you?”

Stiles felt his cheeks go hot. He hid his eyes in a hand. “It’s stupid, I just … I mean, look at you, and you’ve done this place up and you cook and you look after everyone and you let us crash here and we had that heated debate about the merits of _Sherlock_ that time and - ”

“Stiles it’s okay.”

“It’s not - ”

Derek had managed to bridge the gap between them and put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder, Stiles daring to look up. He was so close, and he smelt good and when he smiled it did a weird hollowing thing to Stiles’ stomach.

“It’s really, really okay.”

“Oh.”

Derek pulled his hand away and took a breath. “Do you want food?”

“What kind of food?”

“All kinds.”

Stiles was nothing if not indiscriminate. “Sure. Get me a spoon.”


End file.
